D&D Movie/TV Could D&D/MtG tv/movies replace Superhero movies?

[Henadic Theologian]

I mean in the sense of being the next big thing. I increasingly think Superhero movies and TV shows are slowly edging towards going the way of the Western. The MCU revenue has dropped 50%. DCU movies are in chaos, in part thanks to the antics of Ezra Miller.

Plus we've had a ton of these movies just dominating TV & Movies like decades now with piles more coming out in the next couple of years and honestly few of them look good or exciting.

D&D & MtG on hand are making money hand over fist. All it would take is for Honor Among Thieves & the MtG cartoons to be a moderate success, while Superhero movies and films continue to circle the drain, to begin the shift.

It was pretty clear Honor Among Thieves was taking shots as Superhero movies with "Who Needs Heroes When You Have Thieves" and "Exclusively in Threatres" which the WB and Disney don't really do anymore, at least for any real lengths of time.

 

[overgeeked]

I mean in the sense of being the next big thing.

Incredibly unlikely.

I increasingly think Superhero movies and TV shows are slowly edging towards going the way of the Western. The MCU revenue has dropped 50%. DCU movies are in chaos, in part thanks to the antics of Ezra Miller.

You're right about that. That kind of pattern occurs in most formulaic genres that stick too closely to their tropes and don't innovate.

Plus we've had a ton of these movies just dominating TV & Movies like decades now...

Iron Man came out in 2008. It's 2022. It's been...14 years. They didn't really start "dominating" until...what, the first Avengers film in 2012...so 10 years ago. The TV shows really started in 2013...so less than a decade.

with piles more coming out in the next couple of years and honestly few of them look good or exciting.

I'm usually lukewarm on the Marvel shows, but I'm incredibly excited by the She-Hulk series. It looks great. Very reminiscent of the comics. The What If? cartoon is also fantastic. But then it was also one of my favorite comics.

D&D & MtG on hand are making money hand over fist. All it would take is for Honor Among Thieves & the MtG cartoons to be a moderate success, while Superhero movies and films continue to circle the drain, to begin the shift.

LOL.

It was pretty clear Honor Among Thieves was taking shots as Superhero movies with "Who Needs Heroes When You Have Thieves" and "Exclusively in Threatres" which the WB and Disney don't really do anymore, at least for any real lengths of time.

Um...might be the whole global pandemic thing you're apparently forgetting about.

 

[payn]

It's possible, but I wouldn't bet on it.

 

[Tonguez]

Well Fantasy movies had a popular run in the 1980s with Conan, Legend, Willow, Dragonheart, Ladyhawke, Krull, Beastmaster, Neverending Story, Gor etc etc

so if the DnD movie is good and with Rings of Power and the Willow sequel on its way, we could indeed be looking at a Fantasy revival that WotC would be wise to cash in on. Maybe not a DnDCU but they should certainly ramp up for some licencing deals

 

[Azzy]

I'm fairly optimistic about the movie being enjoyable, but I think that it's unlikely to be such a grand slam that it spawns an MCU-like franchise. That's a little too pie in the sky.

 

[Oofta]

I think superhero genre does feel a bit played out in a way. Every movie has to be bigger and flashier than the last. Heck, Batgirl just got canceled even though it was done filming reportedly because it wasn't big enough.

Does that give fantasy an opening? Maybe? More likely, the MCU was just a lucky phenomena that can't be replicated.

I'm looking forward to the movie, it looks fun. I think it looks like it will be successful. Just not sure it (or any foreseeable movie franchise) will be that big a deal.

 

[Scribe]

I mean in the sense of being the next big thing.

Even my parents (and I'm in my 40s) know comic characters, D&D? Nope, and MTG Planeswalkers? 0% chance.

 

[grimslade]

Well, are we talking DC superhero movies or Marvel? I think we are in a bit of a fantasy media glut right now. We have Wheel of Time, The Witcher, GoT House of the Dragon, LotR The Rings of Power, Willow, and a D&D movie. I would call the quality of this era of fantasy shows to be mixed, but better than Xena and Hercules days. Every fantasy production will be compared to the Lord of the Rings trilogy (not you filthy Hobbitses movies!) or early Game of Thrones. Maybe Rings of Power will be really good. Maybe House of the Dragon will. WoT was meh. GoT went down in flaming dung. I enjoy Witcher but can see its flaws. Plus the fun thing about fantasy is the differences in world-building, so continuity for an overarching series is difficult. Dumbledore, Gandalf, and Mordenkainen form the League of Pretentious Bearded Magic to take down Voldemort riding Tiamat above an army of Trollocs does not sound terribly appealing. So we are left with a bunch of individual projects that may get another season or a sequel if they are entertaining.

 

[bedir than]

The MCU revenue has dropped 50%

As long as you ignore D+ signups and the pandemic, sure, maybe

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Replace? Unlikely.

I could see them effectively becoming part of the overall "superhero" genre though, since player-character-type people are essentially superheroes in a fantasy setting. The big issue will be making sure there's enough cultural cachet to launch the product. Superman and Batman draw the crowds in part because everyone knows who Superman and Batman are.

 

[Yaarel]

I increasingly think Superhero movies and TV shows are slowly edging towards going the way of the Western.

I love the superhero shows. I hope they continue to be a staple.

The MCU revenue has dropped 50%. DCU movies are in chaos, in part thanks to the antics of Ezra Miller.

DCU is in more chaos that I would have guessed. Its Batgirl movie was cancelled even after all the shooting for it was complete, and its directors and actors famous and well-liked. For some reason, the test screenings hated it. Maybe because the mid-budget came across as if low-budget? No one is elaborating on what went wrong.

In any case, DCU is planning to doubledown on big-budget massive splashy movie "events" in the coming future.

So depending on how that goes, superheroes will be around for a while.

Plus we've had a ton of these movies just dominating TV & Movies like decades now with piles more coming out in the next couple of years and honestly few of them look good or exciting.

Love these superhero and superheroish hitech scifi shows!

D&D & MtG on hand are making money hand over fist. All it would take is for Honor Among Thieves & the MtG cartoons to be a moderate success.

I agree.

Wizard = superhero. Paladin = superhero. The D&D genre fits in seemlessly.

"D&D U" can happen.

while Superhero movies and films continue to circle the drain, to begin the shift.

I disagree.

Rather, a rising tide lifts all ships.

When superheroes become part of the culture, then D&D magical superheroes succeed as well.

It was pretty clear Honor Among Thieves was taking shots as Superhero movies with "Who Needs Heroes When You Have Thieves" and "Exclusively in Threatres" which the WB and Disney don't really do anymore, at least for any real lengths of time.

Yeah, but Batman. Antisuperheroes are superheroes too.

 

[Yaarel]

Well, are we talking DC superhero movies or Marvel? I think we are in a bit of a fantasy media glut right now. We have Wheel of Time, The Witcher, GoT House of the Dragon, LotR The Rings of Power, Willow, and a D&D movie. I would call the quality of this era of fantasy shows to be mixed, but better than Xena and Hercules days. Every fantasy production will be compared to the Lord of the Rings trilogy (not you filthy Hobbitses movies!) or early Game of Thrones. Maybe Rings of Power will be really good. Maybe House of the Dragon will. WoT was meh. GoT went down in flaming dung. I enjoy Witcher but can see its flaws. Plus the fun thing about fantasy is the differences in world-building, so continuity for an overarching series is difficult. Dumbledore, Gandalf, and Mordenkainen form the League of Pretentious Bearded Magic to take down Voldemort riding Tiamat above an army of Trollocs does not sound terribly appealing. So we are left with a bunch of individual projects that may get another season or a sequel if they are entertaining.

The league of "pretentious beards": Dumbledore, Gandalf, and Mordenkainen.

Love it! I love the Merlin archetype, but I appreciate the modern transition into the hero of the story rather than the advisor to the hero of the story.

I want to see more wizards that are youthful jocks.

In other words, wizards need to be more like superheroes.

 

[Immoralkickass]

Being a doomsday merchant now, are we? MCU revenue dropping 50% could mostly be attributed to the fact that COVID forced most of cinemas to shut down for long periods of time. Plus, some people just stopped watching MCU altogether after Phase 3.

I don't think Honor Among Thieves are referring to superheroes when they say 'heroes'. Its likely they are referring to D&D PCs who are usually heroes.

Saying Honor Among Thieves/MTG is going to start some massive shift in whatever is like saying this new hyped MMO is going to be the next WoW killer.

 

[jgsugden]

The MCU may not be at a peak, but it is miles from dying ... and will rise again. I expect the next three years to see resurgence. They tell good stories.

To that end, D&D can't replace Super Hero movies ... but if the studios learn to treat the D&D and FR IP with the same respect Marvel movies treat the Marvel IP, it could be another epic series of movies and TV series.

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah, I don't really see D&D or Magic stuff as being a different thing than comic book flicks. A lot of the same genre tropes, really.

 

[Tonguez]

I don't think Honor Among Thieves are referring to superheroes when they say 'heroes'. Its likely they are referring to D&D PCs who are usually heroes.

I think the point is DnD heroes very much are peak-human/super-human equivalents im their fantasy worlds, so in the end DnD and MCU are the same fantasy action genre.

moreover the success of the MCU has been its ability to tell different kinds of stories from spy thriller to space opera using the same super tropes - and guess what, Marvel has its own Fantasy range too, we already have Black Knight cameo in the Eternals amd they could easily set a movie in the Savage Lands

eg: Captain America

 

[Hussar]

Heh, just imagine what the future might be though.

Say we see an MCU level of explosion after the Honor Among Thieves movie. We get the same meteoric trajectory as the MCU. One great movie (Iron Man) and handful of pretty meh movies (Thor 1, Iron Man 2 and 3, I'm sure I'm forgetting a few others) that somehow gel into a major media sensation in Avengers.

Then D&D gets bought out by the big boys - Disney maybe? And, ten years from now, we'll all be bitching about how the House of Mouse is ruining our hobby.

LOL.

 

[John R Davis]

Oh yeah, we love to bitch how X is ruining the hobby, so that would put us in overdrive!
I hope the upcoming fantasy outings are a success.
I'm not sure D&D movies will oust the superheroes but let's see!

 

[Paul Farquhar]

"Exclusively in Threatres" which the WB and Disney don't really do anymore, at least for any real lengths of time.

That because movie theatres are the thing that's dying. Even after the pandemic they stand mostly empty most of the time. People just can't be bothered, and they spend their entertainment funds on streaming instead.

Disney are smart, and getting ahead of the curve.

 

[delericho]

Then D&D gets bought out by the big boys - Disney maybe? And, ten years from now, we'll all be bitching about how the House of Mouse is ruining our hobby.

Weren't there rumors of Disney buying out Hasbro a few years back - back when they got Star Wars and Fox, and seemed just to be on a buying spree?

Anyway, the House of Mouse can't possibly ruin our hobby. The hobby was irredeemably ruined with the release of "Supplement I: Greyhawk".